Justin Verlander understands boos: ‘I’d probably boo myself, too’

DETROIT >> It wasn’t exactly a cascade, but there were boos when Justin Verlander left the mound after Monday’s less-than-stellar start, when his command woes continued.

“No. Fans are frustrated, and so am I. That’s part of the game. They’ve cheered me plenty. They have a right to boo if they’re frustrated. I am, too. If I was in the stands, I’d probably boo myself, too,” Verlander said, when asked if he was surprised.

“I will be better, and they will cheer again.”

He was not better Monday night. He hasn’t been better in a long time.

He was voicing his own displeasure with that fact into the leather of his glove, as he walked off the field.

“Yeah, that’s kind of the word I’ve been using — frustration. I can’t say what those words were. They’re not TV, paper, or anything else — mother approved,” Verlander said, admitting it’s as frustrated as he’s been at any point in his career — even more than in the lost season of 2008. “Yes, yes it is. Frustrating.”

Verlander went six innings, but was no more effective than he has been of late, getting pounded around by a Royals squad that he usually does very well against. Former teammate Omar Infante’s three-run homer in the ysixth was the capper — and Kansas City’s 12th hit, a new season high allowed by Verlander, and one off his career-worst.

He’s now given up five or more earned runs in three straight starts, and six of his last seven. His ERA in that span is 7.83, and opponents have hit .332. He’s not striking people out. He’s not even really getting swings and misses.

Worse yet: He has no idea why.

He’s not injured.

“Unequivocally no,” he said.

He feels fine, but is not getting the results that he’s used to.

“Yeah, that’s what’s frustrating. That’s why I keep saying frustrating. I feel like stuff’s pretty good. Feel like I’m throwing the ball not too bad, it’s just like a couple soft hits, hard hit, and it adds up in a hurry. Hopefully the soft hits start going at people, and there’s nobody on when they hit the hard ones,” said Verlander, who vowed a few starts ago to stop tinkering with his mechanics, but really hasn’t had an opportunity to live up to that promise.

“Yeah, I want to stop tinkering, but when something’s not right, I guess you have to. I think there’s a reason all my stuff is up right now, and gotta fix that. You shouldn’t feel forced to have to execute pitches, it should happen naturally. Especially being down in the zone. You should be able to just do that, and it feels forced right now.”

That doesn’t mean he’s going to undo the work he’s already done this season.

“No, no. Not scrapping it. Like I said, I feel my stuff is pretty good. I’m just getting hit with it. It’s kind of an oxymoron, I guess. I go back and look at a lot of my starts, and there’s not a lot of hard-hit balls. So, that kind of tells you that your stuff is pretty good,” Verlander said.

“It seems that when I’ve gotten in trouble, I haven’t been able to execute pitches. I need to do that better. I need to stop walking guys when I get in trouble. ... Need to do a better job of not walking guys in situations where I’m just adding fuel to the fire, executing a little better.”

While neither Verlander, nor his manager, Brad Ausmus, think it’s a matter of declining skills because of age, there does seem to be a pattern in the big right-hander’s most recent starts.

He’ll cruise along early, then get into trouble that he can’t get himself out of late, and a big inning will derail a quality outing.

After 75 pitches, opponents’ batting and slugging percentages rise rapidly, as does their OPS (on-base plus slugging). Later in games, when he used to be just warming up, now he’s getting hit and hit hard.

Some of that is losing command of his pitches — particularly his fastball — later in the game.

“I think when the ball gets up, it’s been getting hit. When it gets hit, it’s been costing us runs,” Ausmus said. “It applies to all pitchers, but when you’re not commanding the ball down in the zone ... that’s when it gets hit. That’s when it gets driven in the air.”

Stamina used to be the thing that was Verlander’s calling card, when he was racking up more pitches and more innings pitched than anyone in baseball.

Verlander prided himself on the leg workout regimen he had in place in the offseason, done for the very purpose of allowing him to go deeper in games, deeper in seasons, and deep into the postseason.

That normal regimen was upset this offseason, when he had to have core muscle repair surgery, after tearing a muscle during a workout.

Verlander has said he’s not pitching in any pain, but he’s also said he doesn’t know the impact that the offseason surgery has had on his struggles.

It’s as likely an explanation as any for a rapid downturn in Verlander’s abilities.

“I’ve always been someone that no matter how bad things are going, I’m able to look at the positive side of things,” Verlander said. “I think you have to do that. You can’t get too down on yourself. You can’t completely lose confidence. That’s no way to pitch. It’s tough. It’s not easy sometimes. It’s not easy to stay confident, but I’m able to do so.”